Solar Top Secret Files: Final Dawn

Chapter 2: Ten Percent

The elderly man was the supreme leader of the Human Alliance. The people accompanying him were also influential figures within the Alliance. When Ethan Harper first saw them, he vaguely anticipated that something significant had happened, but everything came too suddenly. In fact, Ethan Harper had not yet calmed down.

Maxwell Parker was dead, having committed suicide, but before doing so, he left a blank sheet of paper for Ethan. It was almost the highest level of meeting, attended by the supreme leader, who was now asking Ethan, "What exactly is wrong with the Sun?"

"Sorry, sorry," Ethan Harper murmured a few times, slapping his forehead hard several times before sitting back down and closing his eyes in silence for a while, digesting what he had heard and come into contact with, before finally calming down.

"Can you tell me what exactly is going on? What happened?"

The elderly man gestured to Marcus, who said, "At about 3 a.m. tonight, the solar observatory telescopes in the Western Hemisphere, the fifteen solar observation satellites in Earth's orbit, and the observation satellites at the Lagrange points and in solar orbit all reported the same message to the Crisis Prevention Department. The message was that the solar radiation intensity had dropped by ten percent in just a few minutes and was still rapidly decreasing. After receiving this message, the Crisis Prevention Department quickly reported the information to the head of state's office and contacted Maxwell Parker, the director of your Stellar Physics Research Institute. When it was discovered that Director Maxwell Parker could not be contacted, our Union Security Department joined the investigation, coming directly to Director Parker's residence."

"After receiving no response to our knocking, we forcibly opened the door to Director Parker's home. We then discovered that Director Parker had died, and at the scene, we found traces of a fire. Strangely, it seemed to be a controlled fire, occurring only in Director Parker's bedroom. Director Parker's body was also severely damaged, and the autopsy showed that he died in this fire. The scene of the fire was a mess, but this safe was perfectly preserved. We have reason to believe that Director Parker deliberately left this for you to pass on a message."

"We found that Director Parker had been acting normally until a few days before his suicide, except last night, when he, who never drank, invited you to drink at the restaurant on the top floor of the Century Building and talked with you for at least an hour. By reviewing Director Parker's past research records, we also concluded that he had known about the imminent drastic changes in the Sun at least a year ago, but for some reason, Director Parker had not published these research findings."

"Um, there's another thing, and that's the time of Director Parker's death. The autopsy showed that Director Parker died an hour before the drastic changes in the Sun occurred."

"From this, we can know that Director Parker had known about the impending changes in the Sun for a long time and also knew the reasons for these changes. He knew everything, but he said nothing. Instead, he had a conversation with you before his death and left you a blank sheet of paper, along with a will saying you could answer all our questions... So, Ethan Harper, can you tell me what all this is about?"

Marcus's tone remained steady throughout his speech, without any fluctuation. However, his words stirred up a huge wave in Ethan Harper's mind. Ethan Harper's thoughts were almost at a standstill, but Marcus's words still forcefully penetrated his mind like bullets.

"No... It's impossible for the solar radiation level to suddenly drop by ten percent... That's not right... If the solar radiation level drops, it won't be able to withstand its own immense pressure. It would shrink in volume and increase in density to raise the core temperature and thereby restore the radiation level... This is a dynamic equilibrium process... This is common knowledge..." Ethan Harper murmured.

The elderly man gestured to Marcus again, who then brought a stack of documents and placed them in front of Ethan Harper.

These were diagrams of the changes in solar radiation levels, preliminary observation data from various observation satellites, and some initial analysis conclusions. Ethan Harper was familiar with these things, so he understood what was described in them at a glance.

All detection equipment was clearly indicating one conclusion: "The solar radiation level has decreased, but there has been no significant change in the Sun's mass, volume, or density."

"Do you understand what a ten percent reduction in solar radiation means?" the elderly man said slowly. "It means that the entire Earth will enter the most severe ice age in history. The equator will become temperate, the temperate zones will become frigid... The Antarctic ice sheet might even reach South America, and the Greenland ice sheet could touch the Asian continent. Most regions of the Earth will become uninhabitable, food production will drastically decrease, and tens of millions or even billions of people will starve to death. If the solar radiation level continues to drop... our human civilization will completely collapse, and we might even regress to a primitive state."

"Today is the first day of the reduction in solar radiation. Due to the thermal insulation effects of atmospheric circulation and the oceans, we temporarily cannot detect any significant changes, at most feeling a slight drop in temperature. But if we can't increase the solar radiation level, the temperature will continue to gradually fall until we can't bear it anymore. So, Ethan Harper, tell me, what should we do?"

"I don't know, I don't know," Ethan Harper murmured.

"What did Director Parker say to you last night? Repeat it word for word," said a physicist present at the meeting.

"I..." Ethan Harper composed himself and said with a bitter tone, "Yesterday was Friday. After work, Director Parker found me and said he wanted to show me something... We went to the restaurant on the top floor of the Century Building, Director Parker told me to sit down, then he ordered food... Then we drank, he asked me how I've been recently, if I had any thoughts, and after talking for a while, Director Parker steered the conversation towards how insignificant human civilization is..."

A secretary was quickly recording Ethan Harper's words. During Ethan's recollection, the secretary did not interrupt but silently recorded everything. After Ethan finished speaking, the secretary checked the records and then asked, "On the way from the research institute to the underground parking lot with Director Parker, did he say 'the weather is nice today' or 'it's quite cool today'?"

Ethan Harper recalled for a moment and said, "He said the weather is nice today."

"How many times did Director Parker complain about traffic jams on the way to the Century Building?"

"Three times," Ethan Harper thought for a moment and then answered.

Ethan Harper had an excellent memory; he had even won a memory competition in college. It was because of this that Ethan Harper could recall every detail of the previous night.

...

"Are you sure Director Parker didn't say something like 'come in and sit for a while' before closing his door when he got home?"

"No," Ethan Harper answered.

"Okay, this is the complete record of your conversation with him. Take a look and see if there are any omissions," said the secretary.

Ethan Harper took the few pages of records, quickly browsed through them, and then said, "There are no omissions."

"If you remember anything else, be sure to report it to Marcus at any time. Marcus, you'll be accompanying Ethan during this period," the elderly man said.

"Yes," Marcus uttered a single word.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the meeting room. After getting permission, a person dressed as a secretary with gold-rimmed glasses walked in.

"Leader, the results of the paper analysis are in. It's just an ordinary A4 paper that hasn't been processed by any technical means since its production and doesn't have any invisible agents on it. Cryptography experts haven't obtained any valuable information from the paper's fiber distribution, impressions, or other details. The paper was produced three months ago, purchased from a regular office supply store, and produced by a forestry company called 'Flying.' The paper's raw material is fast-growing poplar, with a growth age of three years and 152 days. A total of six tons of paper were produced in this batch, with five tons entering the market and one ton being sealed. Of the five tons that entered the market, 4.5 tons have been recovered, and efforts are ongoing to trace the remaining 0.5 tons at the purchasers' residences and waste transfer centers. A total of 3,070 people who have come into contact with this batch of paper are undergoing background checks... So far, we haven't found any valuable information."

"Organize a team of organizational psychologists to conduct a psychological investigation of Maxwell Parker immediately. At the same time, gather experts from all fields to analyze and study all the research materials left by Maxwell Parker and all the items he has come into contact with. I want to know the reason for Maxwell Parker's suicide as soon as possible, why he predicted this disaster long ago but refused to issue an early warning, why he chose to commit suicide just before the disaster occurred, why he left Ethan Harper a blank sheet of paper... and how Maxwell Parker predicted this disaster, what unique research Maxwell Parker had on the current changes in the Sun, and most importantly, whether Maxwell Parker had a way to solve this crisis and, if so, what that solution might be."

"At the same time, immediately convene relevant scientists from across the Alliance to analyze the changes in the Sun."

The elderly man issued a series of undeniable orders in a calm tone. After saying all this, the elderly man rubbed his temples with a hint of fatigue, looked at Ethan Harper, and said, "Ethan, from today on, to a certain extent, the fate of humanity... is in your hands."